It's a Girl! Zoo Finds Baby Hippo's Gender After 7 Weeks

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Zoo Finds Baby Hippo's Gender After 7 Weeks

SAN DIEGO — May 13, 2015, 1:32 PM ET

It's a girl! Finally.

The gender of a baby hippo was surprisingly hard to find for the San Diego Zoo, taking nearly two months to uncover. But the zoo said Tuesday that it has determined with 100 percent certainty that the calf born in March is female.

Like most hippopotamus moms, Funani was secretive and protective of her baby, keeping the calf hidden in vegetation in the enclosure's pool and using her own 4-ton body to block the baby from sight. That kept zoo staffers from learning the calf's sex for some seven weeks.

The new girl, named Devi, weighs about 100 pounds and is expected to keep nursing with her mother for eight months.

She is the fifth baby born to Funani.